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Illegal routing in the EDS

We look at what is known and conclude there has either been a misunderstanding or someone is lying

Controversy has been flaming in the EDS Atlantic Challenge following Josh Hall's protest against Ellen MacArthur and Mike Golding for allegedly cheating. The proceedings have been exacerbated because of question marks left when the protest was thrown out without a hearing and because the allegations taint the otherwise impeccable reputation of two of Britain's leading solo sailors Mike Golding and Ellen MacArthur.
On 24 July the EDS Atlantic Challenge boats were slightly more than halfway across the Atlantic on the race's third leg from Portsmouth to Baltimore.
On this day Josh Hall, skipper of
Gartmore, had put a call through to Jenifer Clark, renown as the world expert on the Gulf Stream, who runs the internet site
Jenifer Clark's Gulfstream. During this conversation Clark told Hall that she had already supplied information about the Gulf Stream to
Kingfisherand to
Ecover. This was repeated to another crewmember later and to the boat in an email. It is not clear whether during these conversations Clark stipulated when she had been in contact with the two boats.
After some deliberation and discussion with his crew Hall lodged what he later described as his first protest in 20 years of offshore racing. However it was not until a week later, after
Gartmore had crossed the finish line that the EDS Atlantic Challenge's jury put through their decision. Hall's protest was thrown out on a technicality - it had not been placed within four hours of witnessing the infringement and lodging the protest, a point which Hall later claimed he could prove was not the case.
Two days after hearing that the protest had been thrown out Hall issued a statement to madforsailing and the American e-letter Scuttlebutt among others. In this he re-emphasised the serious nature of his protest and how he would be taking his

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